


Anger Beyond Green

by AvengersFan1



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 10:24:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20172703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengersFan1/pseuds/AvengersFan1
Summary: Steve returns the Mind Stone.





	Anger Beyond Green

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this right after watching Endgame a while ago and I dug this up on my Google Drive, so here we are.  
Hope you enjoy while still being depressed about Endgame (because it's been months and I still am too).

As Steve left the New York Sanctum after returning the Time Stone, he broke. He slid down against the brick wall in a dark, concealed alley and cried as anger and grief washed over him like a furious wave from a thunderstorm at sea.

Why did they have to die?

It could have been anyone: a random asgardian or sorcerer or wakandan or any other person. It could have been him. But it wasn’t. It was Natasha and Tony. 

Steve knew that it was an occupational hazard. He knew that they knew the risks. He knew that they made their choice. 

But it doesn’t change the fact that it hurt. It still hurts.

In Steve’s perfect world, the original six avengers would have had shawarma together after defeating Thanos just as they had when they first became a team. And so Steve did hope. But hope has a funny way of getting crushed when it gets too high. And it destroyed Steve, though he didn’t show it. He was broken. Broken and angry. 

Angry with who? With what? Why? A rational part of him asked. But he pushed it down. Let him be angry for once. Let him be selfish.

When Steve finally composed himself, he made a decision. He was going to see them as a team again. Just see them. Act as the Steve from this time and return the Mind Stone — which was now safely in a replica of the scepter in the case Steve stole it from — to the Avengers. Whether Hydra decides to try and steal the scepter again was this dimension’s problem. Steve just didn’t care anymore.

Now, in the Coulson-designed suit from 2012, Steve walked to Stark (soon to be Avengers) Tower. He walked right past security with ease. No one suspected anything. He went up to a SHIELD agent and asked where the Avengers were with a blank face. The agent responded in a omg-I’m-talking-to-Captain-America voice, saying they were on the top floor. Steve nodded and thanked the agent before entering the elevator. 

“JARVIS,” Steve said. 

“Yes, Captain,” the AI acknowledged.Steve altered a setting on the Time Heist suit, cloaking his ID to keep JARVIS from being confused and notifying Tony and the other Avengers.

“Where is Captain Rogers?”

“On the 14th floor, conducting an investigation,” JARVIS responds. Steve turns the setting on his suit off.

“And the rest of the Avengers?”

“Top floor, Captain. They are waiting for you to finish your investigation.” That meant Steve had little time to return the scepter, but just enough. The elevator slid open.

“Captain,” Fury greeted. Steve nodded in response and stepped out of the elevator. 

“Is that-?” Tony’s eyes were on the scepter’s case I’m Steve’s hand. God, it was Tony. Steve smiled wearily, but the smile didn’t last long. His face reverted back to the blank face. His eyes circled the room.

Yes, Tony stood there, alive, in front of a computer, but was now coming around to take the scepter from Steve. Bruce was… Bruce. Well, he wasn’t green and his arms were proportional. He stood near where Tony was, at a desk with a computer. And Natasha... She had her usual sharp, analyzing, green eyes on him. She stood next to Clint, still in the closet about his family on the farm. Thor stood to the side, his electric blue eyes on the case that Tony was taking from Steve. 

Oh, And there was Fury. Hooray.

“It’s the scepter,” Bruce breathes as Tony opens the case. 

“How did you find it, Rogers?” Natasha questioned, a twang of surprise in her eyebrows. Steve opened his mouth to say he had to go and finish the investigation and he’d fill them in later.

“You,” he own voice said from behind him. Steve turned around. Yep. He was screwed. But Steve just didn’t care. He was angry and he just wanted to leave before he blew up in front of everyone.

Of course, everyone who wasn’t a Steve had their weapons up at both of them. The Steves made eye contact and ignored the weapons.

“You where on the 14th floor,” 2012 Steve guesses. He isn’t hostile which surprised Steve. He’s also without his shield which Steve considers a blessing, otherwise people would be jumping to conclusions.

“So where you,” Steve said. His voice was tense and curt. 2012 Steve cuts straight to the point, trying to clear things up.

“JARVIS?” 2012 Steve asked.

“I’m sensing no difference between the two Captains other than the build of their uniform. One of them also appears to be older than the other.” The room was silent for a moment. Confusion and tension skyrocketed. Then everyone started talking at once. 

Fury tried to question the future Steve about how he had the scepter. 

Thor accused one of the Steves of being Loki. 

Clint and Natasha also started on what they thought was the best course of action. 

Bruce and Tony began on theories on what was going on. 

Neither of the Steve’s said anything.

“You lost someone,” 2012 Steve said interrupting some of the others. He wasn’t guessing this time. And the room was silent. When Steve didn’t answer, his past self continued. “Don’t deny it. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice. I’ve seen it all before in myself. You know when.” And Steve did know. He realized that his tense and curt voice was similar to the voice he used with Peggy the first few days after he lost Bucky before he forced himself to think straight again.

“I did,” Steve admitted. And all the emotion filled his blank face. Anger felt most prominent. His past self sighed, deep and heavy.

“You know, with that kind of anger, you’ll get yourself or someone else killed. Find someone. You should talk about it before you get out there on the field again.” Steve walked toward his past self. 2012 Steve stepped aside. The elevate was right there. His finger was literally touching the button. Then he changed his mind.

Steve turned around, looking at his past self in the eye.

“I’m angry,” he said, “and I don’t know why.

“Maybe it’s because I should have realised sooner that the snarky billionaire was an act to cover up a generous and kind man who’s afraid to show weakness. 

“Maybe it’s because I hang around someone who claims that he turns into an anger driven green monster but I should have seen sooner that he doesn’t. 

“Maybe it’s because I befriended people who work with secrets and lies. For God’s sake, their whole social life is a lie! But I should have seen the reasoning sooner. 

“Maybe it’s because this god comes down, shaking everything up and swinging his hammer while speaking about a higher form of war… And I should have heeded the warning. 

“Or maybe it’s because I’m looking at a younger version of myself -- up tight, fresh from the ice… You’ve lost everything… yet nothing. Loss isn’t foreign to us but, for the first time in its aftermath, I’m angry. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t strong enough, or fast enough, or maybe I wasn’t enough. But people died… Colleges, friends... Family. A man can only lose so much before he begins to lose himself.” 

And then he left, not looking back, knowing that he would never see them again as a team.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think?


End file.
